Memorandum
City of Lawrence
Public Works Department
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TO: |
Chuck Soules
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FROM: |
Mike Perkins, Mark Thiel
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DATE: |
December 2, 2013
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RE: |
City Manager’s Report – Downtown Rail Road Track Removal |
The Public Works Department partnering with Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad and their contractor RJ Corman under took the time sensitive process of removing the RR crossings in the downtown area on 6th St, Vermont St, Massachusetts St, New Hampshire St, the alley ways between Vermont St and New Hampshire St, along with the crossing on 11th St just west of Haskell. Street Division crews lead by Bill Nye and Tim Cast working in conjunction with the Railroad contractor began removal of the 6th St crossing on the night of October 27th working through the overnight the RR crossing was removed and prep work to resurface the crossing location began. Street Division employees re-built the road base, and installed full depth asphalt pavement in the former RR crossing location. This work was completed and the roadway was reopened to normal traffic by 3:00 PM on October 28th. The same procedure was followed the next 3 nights as the crossings were removed at Vermont St., Massachusetts St., New Hampshire St. The crossing at 11th and Haskell was removed during the overnight hours of October 31st and new full depth concrete pavement was poured on November 1st, 11th St. was reopened on November 4th allowing the concrete time to cure before reopening the road to traffic.
Street Division crews working with RJ Corman removed the RR tracks from the alleys between Vermont St. and New Hampshire St. over the weekend of November 2nd and 3rd. During the week of November 4th thru November 8th the alleys sub grade was repaired and the alleys repaved and opened to traffic by the afternoon of the 8th. Curb, gutter and sidewalk repairs commenced once all of the paving work had been completed this work along with backfill and reseeding was completed by December 2nd.
The city is currently working with the adjacent property owners and Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad to address the disposition of the right of way now that the RR tracks are gone. Also, the remaining RR track north of the Westar substation is planned to be removed to the north back to the main line track at a future date to be determined by Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad.
The careful coordination of efforts by Street Division Supervisors and employees with our partners the BNSF Railroad, RJ Corman, our local material suppliers and contractors Asphalt Sales Lawrence, Midwest Concrete Materials Lawrence, and C-Hawk Traffic Control Services made this project possible and a success.